The Mason jar—a glass canning jar with a sealable metal lid—revolutionized fruit and vegetable preservation in the home, freeing Americans from earlier, more complicated and less reliable processes of preserving fruits and vegetables. It was the invention of John L. Mason of New Jersey, who had a metalworking shop on Canal Street in New York City. On 30 November 1858, when he was twenty-six years old, Mason patented a self-sealing zinc lid to fit preserving jars. A rubber gasket between the glass lip and zinc lid completed the seal. The inexpensive screw-on lid greatly simplified the canning process and made jars genuinely reusable. As the jars had wide mouths, they were easy to fill. Although his name remained on the jar, Mason’s control of his invention was short lived. In 1859 he sold his patent to Lewis R. Boyd, who owned the Sheet Metal Screw Company of New York. Boyd made additional improvements, one of which separated the zinc lid from the contents of the jar. As the jars were easy to use and comparatively inexpensive to produce, their popularity soared, and Mason jars were shipped throughout the United States during the 1860s.
